Suicide squeeze beats White Sox again

Piniella used it once against the Sox when he coached Seattle, and it worked again Saturday.

Nathaniel Whalen

Lou Piniella may claim to dislike the suicide squeeze, but the Cubs manager certainly has no problem calling for it against the White Sox.

As manager of the 2000 Seattle Mariners, Piniella asked Carlos Guillen to execute one in Game 3 of the American League Division Series, and Guillen did so, bringing home the game-winning and series-ending run.

Though it wasn’t quite the same stage, Piniella pulled out the ol’ suicide again Saturday, and it again beat the Sox, this time 2-1 in front of a sellout crowd of 39,043 at U.S. Cellular Field.

Ryan Theriot - who wasn’t even supposed to be in the game - played the part of Guillen, and Angel Pagan played the role of Rickey Henderson, coming across the plate with what proved to be the game-winner.

“We had a guy up at home plate, Theriot, who can execute the bunt, and we had some speed at third base with Pagan,” Piniella said, “so we took a shot, and Theriot laid down a perfect bunt, and Pagan didn’t break too soon and helped us win a baseball game.”

It assured the Cubs of a series win, marking the first time the North Siders have won both series from the Sox in the same season. They started playing each other in two Crosstown Classic series each year in 1999.

“I had a feeling,” Sox manager Ozzie Guillen said of the bunt. “He got behind in the count, and I thought maybe if he got ahead in the count. But he put it in the right place.

“He’s (out)managing me, just in case you want to hear that,” Guillen continued, getting angrier at the repeated question about whether he expected the bunt. “Lou (out)managed Ozzie today. That can be the highlight today.”

Cliff Floyd started the ninth-inning rally with a seeing-eye single up the middle off Bobby Jenks (2-3), then was pulled for Pagan. After pinch-hitter Daryle Ward singled to left-center to put men on the corners with one out, up came Theriot.

Theriot had replaced Mark DeRosa - who was responding negatively to medicine - in the starting lineup and laid down a perfect squeeze in front of home plate.

“It’s one of the most exciting plays, and it’s fun to do,” Theriot said. “It’s not something you practice all the time. ...

“Personally, I want to be in that spot every night. Having the game on your shoulders. I embrace that. It’s a position I’ve always wanted to be in since I was a kid.”

With Pagan off on the pitch - and third-base coach Mike Quade not far behind - he easily crossed home with what proved to be the game-winner.

“You don’t see it a lot, but it was a great time for it,” Pagan said. “Theriot is a pretty good bunter. I was ready.”

Considering how the game was going up to that point, it was about the only way either team was going to score a run.

For the second straight day, Alfonso Soriano led off the game with a homer. The Sox tied the game in the bottom half of the frame when Scott Podsednik - in his first game back from a trip to the disabled list - came home on Jim Thome’s groundout to short.